100gal Wild Discus Biotype - Lots of pictures warning

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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Feb 10, 2003
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#22
How about some more detail on your lighting. Where did you get everything? And I would like to know how you put it all together and maybe some closer shots of the lights on the heat sink. Chop chop! I don't have all day!! :)

I'm going to try this out for a 5 gallon planted and see how well I can mess it up. Not going with the dimable drivers though to save a bit of money on the first one. I've already got everything (I think) I need ordered from Rapidled.com . so we'll see how this turns out once I get it.
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
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Columbia, SC
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#23
Sorry, been on a training exercise in NC the past few days. I got the materials from different places, here is a parts list and where I got everything for the light fixture, this includes the power/control box.

9x Cree XRE Warm White and optics - Rapid LED Home Page
4x Cree XRE Cool White (moonlights) and optics - Rapid LED Home Page
1x Aluminum Heatsink - Extruded Aluminum Heatsinks from HeatSinkUSA
1x 6.5A Power Supply (Warm Whites) - 24V, 6.5A POTRANS POWER SUPPLY-MPJA, Inc.
1x 4.5A Power Supply (Cool Whites) - 24V, 4.2A POTRANS POWER SUPPLY-MPJA, Inc.
2x 1000mA Wired BuckPuck w/ Pot (LED Driver for Warm Whites) - 3023-D-E-1000P Wired BuckPuck - LED Supply.com
1x 350mA Wired BuckPuck w/ Pot (LED Driver for Cool Whites) - 3023-D-E-350P Wired BuckPuck - LED Supply.com
3x Potentiometer Knobs - Potentiometer Turn Knob - LED Supply.com
2x 72" Power Cord - 72" Power Cord - LED Supply.com
1x Custom cut Acrylic for Splash Guard - Acrylic Sheets - Green Edge: TAP Plastics
5x DC Coax Power Plug - 2.1MM (0.8") CO-AX POWER PLUG | AllElectronics.com
5x DC Coax Power Jack - 2.1MM COAX POWER JACK, PANEL MOUNT | AllElectronics.com
Thermal pads - CRE Loaded Ecommerce
24 AWG stranded hookup wire - Bulk Wire: Online Shopping for Electrical Wire & Cable, Hookup Wire, Magnet Wire, Teflon Coated Wire, Red/Black Zip Cord

Other things include, Project box from Radio Shack, 3 On/Off Rocker Switches, Solder and a Soldering Iron. I highly suggest buying extra LEDs, especially if its your first time Soldering and just incase some arrive dead (rare but happens). And get a good plug in soldering iron, not the battery powered kind.

I attached the LEDs to the aluminum heatsink with thermal sticky pads. I'll have to get more pictures, this is all I really have.




After drilling and tapping the aluminum for the screws that hold my splash guard I put on the sticky thermal pads, then attached the LEDs. After that I soldered them, in to + on one side, out of - on the other and then into + of the next one. Like a chain, basically wiring in series. Then down to my project box and to all the plugs which looks like a birds nest but is very simple.

Anything specific you want to see closer on the light? I'll try to get pictures. A 5gal planted should be easy, and fairly cheap to light. I'd like to do another one of these for a smaller tank as well at some point.
 

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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Feb 10, 2003
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#24
No worries, someone has to do it and they don't like me anymore ;)

Awesome, thanks for the break down and photo's. I'm not getting fancy with the one for the 5 gallon, no moonlights and non dimmable. I've got 4 Cree XPG's and a 350ma driver coming from Rapidled along with the heatsink. I didn't order any optics, and I'm now wishing I did just incase I decide I need them. I don't have a PAR meter, but going by other peoples experience this should be more than enough to grow just about anything I want. LMAO, I went with the sticky pads too. (If you use the sticky thermal pads you don't have to drill and tap the LED's, right?) If I don't set anything on fire with this first run, I'm going to try some for my Fluval tank, and then for a 29 gallon. Would love to have a controlled setup on a 75 gallon with fully programmable sunrise and dusk settings...maybe down the road a little bit. Just the LED's would almost break a man up for that, I'd hate to think of the cost of a heatsink.

This LED lighting is just so awesome. There is just so many options and so much you can do with it compared to more traditional light systems.

I've already got the majority of my enclosure done for my 5 gallon. Still needs a bit of work and an exhaust fan, but almost there. Not a huge hurry, it will be later this week before I get my LED's. So far I'm about $60 into this light total cost I think. A lot better than anything I could get off the shelf.

 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
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38
37
Columbia, SC
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#25
Yeah the heatsink for a 75gal would be pretty hefty lol. Unless you just used something like U channel in rows. In this build Comprehensive DIY LED Project List - Nano-Reef.com Forums he uses it as supplemental but it could be used exclusively with just the rows of LEDs on U Channel. Here is a better example of what I mean LED Build for 400g Tank - Reef Central Online Community

Sticky thermal pads are the way to go, so much easier and less of a headache as drilling and tapping. $60 so far is really good.
 

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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Feb 10, 2003
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#26
lol, I got my order from Rapidled and really expected the LED's to be larger than what they are. They sure got here a heck of a lot faster than I expected, 3 days cross country for the standard shipping, not bad at all.

I'll stop high jacking your thread now and will start my own eventually for my lights. Thanks for the help Matt, it's helped me out a lot. Getting starting figuring out what to get for LED's has been a headache, but hopefully worth it. :)
 

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
Oct 20, 2006
1,918
3
0
Wellsville, KS
#31
everyone says how ugly wilds are cause their lack of color...youve proven them all wrong. just cause their not red or blue, but omg their colors awesome. what do you feed?

id love to see them in a planted tank
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
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38
37
Columbia, SC
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#33
Here is the newest video folks! Not perfect, but its good enough to show you their color and condition. Camera was a bit off center of the tank giving it an uneven look, trust me the tank is level LOL. Watch in HD!

Cuipeua Discus - YouTube

I'm working on the 100gal right now. Tweaking some filtration and adding more sand, once its done the wilds will go back in that.

While you are at it feel free to check out my other videos if you've missed them. ;)
Clemmatt's Channel - YouTube

 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
14
38
37
Columbia, SC
www.youtube.com
#34
Look at all these old photos....time for an update yeah?

Here is some of my humble collection.








Not the best picture but its a really nice fish.


And this is my most colorful red one, probably my favorite of the group. This one is SO hard to get pictures of, tends to hang out near the back. Its one of the bosses of the tank so it knows it can get food whenever it wants and doesn't rush the glass lol.
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
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37
Columbia, SC
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#35
More, these are a bit newer.

Semi Royal Mangal, not the best light hitting him here, washes out some of his red.


These are pictures of some of the other Mangals I got. These are going to be nice once the red fills in.




Reversed its bars lol


Not the best 2 pictures, but just wanted to show, you can really see the red potential here.



Terrible picture here actually, but I had to show it. This is a Cuipeua I got back in Oct or Nov of last year (I think that date is right?). The picture below it is the same fish not to long after I got it.



And of course the reddest one in the tank....always hiding behind someone/something. This time its my tripod holding my flash and other fish. I did NOTHING to this photo color wise, this is as red as he is to the naked eye.